In addition to approving the public hearing date, trustees on Monday agreed to pay $9,900 to Moran Economic Development for “technical services and assistance” on the proposed Route 111 Business District. The consultants are conducting a “blighting analysis” to determine whether the properties within the district are blighted, as defined by the Illinois Business District Development or Redevelopment Act.

Moran Economic Development will also be running the Feb. 28 public hearing, and the agreement calls for MED to be paid an additional $3,000 after the hearing.

To date, the Route 111 Business District has relatively few retail businesses. Still, the area is likely to see more retailers in years to come, and creation of a business district would allow the village to benefit from that.

McRae says that despite their differences during the discussions, trustees have been respectful of each other’s opinions.

“The rationale for those of us who voted against it is we’ve already seen the state just raise the income tax, and of course property taxes are going to go up; they go up every year,” he said. “And the school districts are going to be on the ballot in March. So from the point of view of taxpayers, they’re just getting hit from every possible angle with tax increases. And some of us felt like we needed to find another way to do this without raising taxes.”

Whatever the board finally decides, McRae says the current board “will be very vigilant about how the money gets used.”